*All tattoos must be attempted to be covered and body/facial piercings must be removed

*Performance ready hair and make-up: hair must be pulled out of face either ponytail or half-up. It may be straight or curly but must be a polished look. Make sure your eye make-up and lipstick look heavy enough for you to be dancing under lights!

*Make sure your outfits are flattering to your body and reflect your personality! Help the judges remember who you are!

What you will be taught:

-Across the floor technique

-Hip Hop/Pom/Jazz combination (short combo featuring a few 8 counts of each style)

-High Kick Line combination

What to prepare:

-The only thing you need to come prepared with is a short 4 eight count freestyle combination. This is your opportunity to showcase any technical skills, tumbling skills or special skills you feel are important for the judges to see. Do not panic if you don’t feel you have these skills, just show off your personality, energy and musicality!

Commitment Requirements:

-Must be enrolled or planning to enroll as a full-time DC3 student in the fall of 2014

-Must have previous dance team/drill team/studio dance experience

-Must be available for all home football and basketball games as well as any playoffs.

-Must be available to attend 4 practices per week generally between 2-5 PM Mon.-Thurs.

-Must be available to attend fundraising activities, college and community appearances and performances throughout the school year.

Dance Requirements:

The DC3 Conquistadors Dance Team is a 12-18 member performance based team. The team performs at all home football and basketball games. They perform hip hop, pom, and jazz routines that are high energy and crowd pleasing. Plans are to make the dance team competitive within the next 2 years. Candidates are judged based on the following categories:

Dance Skills:

individual “spirit” (how you get the crowd pumped up)

motion technique

toe touch

grand jete (straight leg leap)

double pirouette

calypso leap

leg holds/extensions

disc and/or spinning C jump

*All candidates will be asked to attempt grand tours/turns in second

IF ANY CANDIDATES HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT WHAT THESE SKILLS ARE PLEASE CONTACT COACH LESA. ALSO DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED FROM AUDITIONING IF YOU DO NOT FEEL 100% CONFIDENT IN THESE SKILLS, WE ARE LOOKING FOR POTENTIAL.

General dance ability:

rhythm/timing

style

control

precision

uniformity/synchronization

Showmanship:

facial expression

energy level

confidence/projection

memory/recovery

appearance/physical fitness

Attitude and Learning Ability

*All members are required to re-audition each year to ensure motivation, growth, and continued respect and passion.

What we are looking for in a DC3 dancer:

-dance experience/talent

-outgoing personality

-passion for entertaining a crowd

-showmanship

-energy

-musicality and style

-physical fitness and personal appearance

-dancers who can pick up choreography quickly and recover from mistakes with confidence!

-well spoken, poised young women

*Candidates who are called back with be asked to partake in a short interview process at a later date.

Sample Audition Schedule:

Turn in information sheet and headshot

Receive audition number

Welcome by Coach Lesa/judges introductions

Warm-up and stretches

Across the floor technique

Pom/Jazz/Hip Hop Combination

High Kick line Combination

Freestyle/Special Skills

Judging

Candidates are judged by a panel of area dance instructors and/or former collegiate/professional team members consisting of 3-4 including the director of the dance team. A candidate’s ability to accurately learn the routine and their attitude while learning are factored into the applicant’s overall score, therefore the judges are either present during the entire process or review a tape of the audition process prior to the posting of the new team. Candidates are judged on the criteria listed below on a 5 point scale with (5) being poor and (1) being excellent. All auditions are closed to the public, friends and family.

Scholarships:

DC3 offers scholarship money to dancers who meet the audition requirements. The dollar amount is determined on audition, experience, talent, and overall potential.

Announcing the team

All audition candidates will be emailed the team results no later than one week post audition date. Candidates receive an email notification regardless of if they were accepted or not.